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3 thoughts on “Out of Office”

I’m curious if you take requests. My request is your reaction to Food Fight by Kelly Brownell.

Also, how do you respond to the following ideas in the ether?

1. Certain man-made foods are to be avoided like drugs? Meaning, twinkies, white bread, french fries, take your pick. A la Jack La Lanne (spelling?) “if man made it, I don’t eat it.” This is coupled with the idea that Intuitive eating works well as long as you’re dealing with “natural” foods. Our bodies crave fat, sugar, salt in ways that derail intuitive eating if we include them in unnatural, isolated states.

2. what about learned tastes? I mean, if I’m told that x is “nutritious” and then I tell myself to try it 5 times and after those 5 times I like it. Well, am I kidding myself? Is nutritious eating just another form of dieting?

3. I like the feeling of weighing less (30 pounds) than 2 years ago. I mean, for myself. I walk more comfortably, carry more groceries, am more stretchy in yoga and can do more push-ups and I would rather feel these things than eat french fries. To me, this feels like the same as “I don’t always feel like going to work but I always like having money to pay my rent, so I take the trade-off.” If it’s not about earning someone else’s love, is it problematic in your point of view? If so, can you help me understand how?

I have a feeling all of this would be answered in a FAQ if you have one, so can you point me to it if I missed it?

1) I don’t believe any food should be “avoided like a drug” (and since french fries are potatoes, oil, and salt, I’m thinking your definition of “man-made food” is, uh, awfully stringent). And no, I don’t think those foods mess with intuitive eating in the long run. I just think intuitive eating doesn’t happen overnight when we’ve been conditioned to think in terms of “good” food and “bad” food.

2) What? No.

3) If it’s not about earning someone else’s love, is it problematic in your point of view?

Yes. Because you’re attributing health benefits to weight loss when there’s no way to prove that’s the cause of them — and it is, in fact, far more likely that changes in your eating and exercise habits are making you feel better, not losing weight. Also, it’s tremendously likely that 3 years from now, you’ll weigh 30 lbs. more again, so now would be the time to focus on your health instead of your weight, so that doesn’t come as a crushing blow.

And just a nitpicky point: a lot of fat women, including me, are VERY flexible naturally. There is no direct relationship between weight and “being stretchy in yoga” whatsoever. I had to deal with becoming much less stretchy as I built more muscle, in fact, before the practice brought my body around to a balance between flexibility and strength. Would you recommend losing muscle mass to improve flexibility? I mean, seriously.